Reel drive assemblies are required to perform a range of tasks including winding, reeling, spooling, lifting and lowering lines such as cable, rope, wire, umbilicals, flowlines, hoses, pipes, cords, or conduits onto or from a reel.
Typically, reel drive assemblies work in pairs with each assembly utilising a reel hub adapter to engage with one side wall flange of the reel to support and/or drive the reel. The reel drive assemblies generally comprise vertical hydraulic cylinders or jacks to lift the reel out of a cradle to allow the reel to rotate or to be driven during spooling or unspooling onto or off the reel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,875,991 describes a winch device for winding or unwinding flexible articles. The winch device has a carriage located at each side of the reel drum with each carriage capable of lifting and lowering the reel drum. Bearings on each carriage are capable of moving horizontal to engage and/or disengage with the reel drum.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,284,249 describes a winch device for winding and unwinding elongated articles such as underwater conduit or cables. The winch device has two spaced apart spindles which can be moved vertically, horizontally and towards each other to handle spools when the spool are supported with their axes perpendicular to the direction of unwinding the conduit or cable.
Reel drive assemblies may be required to be transported to a different location. Relocating reel drive assemblies can be cumbersome, time consuming and expensive as they are required to be sturdy and sufficiently large and heavy to support a wide range of reel diameters, sizes and weights.
Furthermore, although the above-described reel drive assemblies are designed to tolerate heavy reel loads, prolonged exposure to heavy reel loads, particularly in environments such as offshore can result in damage to components of the assemblies.
It is an object of an aspect of the present invention to provide a reel drive assembly which is modular; which may be readily transported, assembled and/or disassembled and/or is suitable for a range of applications in offshore and/or onshore environments of different types and sizes.
It is another object of at least one aspect of the present invention to provide a modular reel drive assembly which is designed for easy and rapid assembly and disassembly.
It is amongst the aims of at least one aspect of the invention to provide a reel hub adapter support assembly that is capable of improving the performance of a reel drive assembly by enabling the reel drive assembly to withstand prolonged exposure to heavy reel loads.
Further aims and objects of the invention will become apparent from reading the following description.